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A hybrid working model is characterized by the fact that companies give their employees the freedom to choose how, where, and when they perform their activities. This means employees can choose whether to perform their activities at their home offices, at the company’s headquarters, or in flexible spaces.
This way of working is nothing new, and more and more trends about the future of work indicate that companies are inclined to adopt hybrid working as their standard. A study conducted by IDC and Google Cloud revealed that 43% of Brazilian companies have already defined the hybrid model as their preferred work system for the coming years.
In this context, it’s important for companies that wish to adopt the hybrid working model to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this format. Below, we list the main topics on the theme that must be considered during the adoption process.
Points of attention of the hybrid working model
Although the advantages of the hybrid working model receive the greatest emphasis, there are points of attention that cannot be ignored. These points of attention act as challenges the company needs to overcome in order to take full advantage of hybrid working. Check them out:
Advantages of hybrid working
- Cost reduction for the company (energy, water, transportation);
- Practicality and flexibility for employees;
- Increase in productivity;
- Elimination of time spent with commuting of collaborators.
Hybrid working points of attention
- Good control management and internal communication are needed;
- The monitoring of activities needs to be simple;
- The company’s data and information must be secure;
- Good solutions for managing the company’s documents;
- Adoption of a solution for the control of the company’s processes.
Process automation as a driver of the hybrid working model
To begin understanding how process automation can contribute to a hybrid working model, we have first to understand the concept of automation.
What is process automation?
Automation is the act of transforming manual processes and making them more independent of human interaction, using technology to improve or optimize them to make them free of human error.
We can say that automating processes means removing bottlenecks that impose inefficiencies on business operations.
Today, process automation is a reality in the operational routine of companies due to the potential for optimization and resolution of activities with a few clicks.
Managing a team without using management solutions and integrated systems is practically unfeasible when looking for productivity and efficiency, especially when it comes to a hybrid scenario.
What is the purpose of process automation?
The main objective of process automation is to improve the workflow progress in an organization.
With automation, it’s possible to reduce costs, time spent, and waste, increase productivity, minimize failures, and control, in real-time, all business processes.
How does process automation contribute to the hybrid working model?
Regardless of how a company manages its processes, one thing is for sure: they cannot be plastered or tied to physical media such as paper, for example, especially in a hybrid labor management format.
Manual processes demand a lot of time. And that time could be spent on something more productive or strategic. In addition to time-saving, you can see increased productivity and cost reductions when processes are automated.
Another advantage is that, in addition to increasing the quality of the work performed, once the process becomes more efficient, it is possible to standardize them. It is within this context that we list below some ways in which a process automation culture can not only contribute, but also enhance and facilitate the adherence to the hybrid working model.
BPM
For a company’s process automation to be able to achieve the best possible results, technological solutions called BPMS (Business Process Management Systems) are utilized.
BPM is an ideal ally for organizations wishing to mature their process automation efforts. With it, you can define, execute, measure, analyze, evaluate, optimize, and monitor each of your company’s processes.
Adhering to a solution that can make different processes easily accessible to employees remotely is a very important step in the implementation of the hybrid working model, figuring as a pillar for the success of this new reality.
In our blog, you will find a complete guide about BPM and also some tips on how to implement it in your business.
Everything in the Cloud
Storing data in the cloud is already very much part of people’s daily lives. It is very difficult to find someone who does not use services like Google Drive, iCloud, or Onedrive on their mobile devices.
In this sense, it’s a natural step for companies to start keeping their documents, processes, and important data in storage that can be easily shared with their employees, protected, and independent of hardware and physical spaces.
In this phase, it’s important to use an EDM solution to manage files and documents online and securely.
Document Management
It’s common for companies to generate a large volume of documents every day, be it in the management of contracts, invoices, or other papers shared among teams. These materials are usually saved on internal servers at the company’s premises, or often, on the employees’ own devices.
In a hybrid working model, accessing and organizing these documents becomes complicated, especially when inappropriate tools such as e-mail and chats are used to send and receive files. Although these tools bring agility to the transactions, they end up presenting many more problems than benefits, such as:
- Unnecessary copies;
- Lack of versioning control for important files;
- Lack of information security and governance;
- Difficulty in locating files.
Again, Electronic Document Management (EDM) stands out as an ideal solution to manage and archive the documents of a company, being the most efficient way to access and share the materials.
In this article we highlight some important points to be considered when adopting an EDM solution for your company.
Information Security
With teams decentralized and away from company premises, it is important that there is an extra layer of protection in the documents that employees use and share. Cloud solutions usually have advanced protection and encryption features, in addition, it is also important the possibility to configure within the GED solution different permissions for the contents that are archived, ensuring access only to authorized persons.
Mobility
With company files in the cloud, they become accessible anywhere, anytime, allowing employees greater flexibility during their publication and access. With the advance of current technologies, it’s even possible to handle information offline and synchronize it when there is a connection. All this facilitates the performance of day-to-day tasks, saving time that can be spent on more strategic activities.
Therefore, joining solutions that include mobile applications in your ecosystem of tools is an important factor to be considered.
The role of IT in the migration to the hybrid working model
Analysing the points cited above, we realize that investing in technology to automate processes will be a fundamental aspect for the success of hybrid working models, because it enables collaboration in the cloud, ensures data security and corrects communication failures.
So much so that around 66% of Brazilian companies have revamped their IT infrastructure to meet the new requirements, increasing their technology budgets to accelerate digital transformation.
Data like this show a clear trend for the post-pandemic work: it will be hybrid, flexible and connected, with the adoption of digital platforms and resources to improve collaboration and assertiveness in communication.
Therefore, it is essential to include the IT team in the search for these practical solutions that will be used in the company’s day-to-day, since they will have great responsibility for the success of the cultural transformation of your business.
Conclusion
Is process automation important in helping the digital transformation of labor relations? Yes, but it’s not the only significant factor: culture has great relevance too. Companies need to have cooperation imbued in their values and rely on solutions that also value it.
Fusion Platform
Fusion Platform is a powerful ECM platform, which stands out as a low-code solution for the management of processes, documents, and indicators. Integrating robust BPM and GED modules, Fusion Platform manages the entire life cycle of your documents and processes, ensuring agility and productivity in your company’s activities, besides bringing other benefits such as native electronic and digital signatures, a powerful Analytics module, and also has mobile applications that allow access to processes and documents at any time and place.
Test Fusion Platform for free for 15 days or schedule a demonstration with our consultants to answer all your questions.
